Most people tend to balk at the idea of paying big bucks for mobile games. Even a title as popular as Angry Birds would have a hard time convincing iPhone owners to shell out $50 for what amounts to a casual game, however fun it is, on a miniature screen (compared to the desktop). Nevertheless, a quality low-priced game designed for smartphones has the potential to be a win-win situation for the customer and developer, so what's Nintendo's beef with all these 99-cent titles? Hit the jump to find out.

As Netflix looks to move further away from DVD-by-mail rentals and focus more attention on its streaming service, GameFly is taking the exact opposite approach and continues to beef up its games-by-mail operations. The videogame equivalent of Netflix (minus the streaming capability), GameFly is adding a fifth distribution center to help serve its expanding membership. This newest one will land in Seattle.

We realize we're preaching to the choir here, but PC gaming is alive and well, folks. Nay, PC gaming is thriving and well. Sure, your local GameStop/Babbages likely reduced the PC game section to a sad looking rack situated between walls of console titles, but while brick and mortar store shelves are getting smaller, virtual shelves keep growing. No one knows this better than Valve, who's Steam platform raked in nearly $1 billion ($970 million) in revenue in 2010, according to Forcasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE).

Here we go again. For the umpteenth time, a politician is attaching himself to the controversial subject of videogames causing real-life violence. This time it's Caliornia congressman Joe Baca (D-Rialto, CA) who wants to pass a bill that would slap a health warning label to "all videogames with an Electronics Software Ratings Board rating of Teen or higher," GamePolitics.com reports. Here's what the label would say:

"WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent videogames and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior."

Baca elaborated his stance saying, "The videogame industry has a responsibility to parents, families, and to consumers -- to inform them of the potentially damaging content that is often found in their products. They have repeatedly failed to live up to this responsibility. Meanwhile research continues to show a proven link between playing violent games and increased aggression in young people. American families deserve to know the truth about these potentially dangerous products."

The bill has the backing of Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), who likened the warning label to those those found on cigarette boxes.

"Just as we warn smokers of the health consequences of tobacco, we should warn parents -- and children -- about the growing scientific evidence demonstrating a relationship between violent videogames and violent behavior," Wolf said. "As a parent and grandparent, I think it is important people know everything they can about the extremely violent nature of some of these games."

This isn't a new topic by any means, nor is it cut and dry. In fact, one recent study by Dr. Christopher Ferguson and his research team from Texas A&M International University concluded that exposure to violence in videogames and television isn't able to predict aggressive behavior, but depressive symptoms can.

Disney, home of the self-described happiest place on Earth, has laid off close to 200 employees as it tries to revamp its interactive media division, The Wall Street Journalreports.

Most of those pink slips ended up in the hands of employees working for Disney's console game operations, which formerly consisted of a staff of 700. Going forward, more layoffs are expected.

"As part of setting a strategic for future success in the digital media space, the Disney Interactive Media Group yesterday began a restructuring process," a Disney spokeswoman said in a statement.

The biggest blow coming from Disney's restructuring efforts includes the shuttering of one of its game studios, Progaganda Games, which worked on the Tron game. Looking ahead, it appears Disney is more interested in pursuing mobile and social games as the company attempts to lift its interactive media group out of the red.

According to a NSFW article in The Sun, 26-year-old gamer Jo Eley claims she spent a long time customizing her character in EA's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 to resemble herself using face-mapping technology. Pleased with the result, Eley took to the fairway only to discover that her in-game character was strutting around topless. Another Hot Coffee-esque mod, perhaps?

No way, says EA. In a statement to the U.K. paper, EA said there's no hidden nudity code in the game and that hackers are to blame.

"We have extensively investigated and have determined that this situation is not possible through a retail copy of the game," EA said. "The player model is clearly modified as a result of hacking."

A naughty Easter egg of sorts allowed gamers to unlock explicit scenes in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas game, which was known as the Hot Coffee mod. The assertion here is that this is the same type of thing, but we tend to side with EA on this one. It's a little bit suspect that this is an exclusive story to The Sun without any public posting of a supposed nudity mod, and given the much publicized events surrounding Tiger Woods' personal life off the golf course, the timing seems suspect.

In an effort to curtail piracy and thwart any damage that might result from the recent public posting of security codes for the PlayStation 3 console. Sony plans to introduce a serial key system for its games, TechEye reports.

Earlier this month, George Hotz and a band of programmers associated with a hacking group called "fail0verflow" drew Sony's ire by uncovering and publishing root keys for the PS3. Sony's initial response was to take legal action against Hotz and more than 100 others it claims were involved, but there's still the problem of such keys now being public knowledge.

These root keys are used to verify that a game is genuine, and with that knowledge, hackers and pirates can essentially trick the console into recognizing counterfeit software as the real deal. With the new system in place, upcoming games will ship with unique serial keys specific to that Blu-ray disc, which the user will then have to enter into the PS3. If this sounds at all familiar, then you must be a PC gamer.

Citing an un-named source, PS3-Sense says Sony has already updated the PS3's firmware in preparation for this new verification system.

Six years of hard work. Hundreds of thousands of man hours. Twelve million subscribers who have spent billions of hours hacking, slashing, grinding, looting, and every other vaguely dirty term you can think of. So, how do you follow that? “Blow it all up,” says Blizzard. “And use a dragon.” The end result? A total reinvention of World of Warcraft that’ll have you hooked from the first second and keep you there for—oh—a couple hundred more hours. At least.

There's no such reality show called "When Gamers Attack," but if there was to be one, Frogster's Runes of Magic game would take center stage.

Here's the deal. A user who goes by the nick "augustus87" is pretty pissed off with how the German outfit is running its game. Taking matters into his own hands, augustus87 hacked the game's database, posted the details of more than 2,000 accounts on the forum, and threatened to reveal names and passwords of 1,000 Runes of Magic players every day until his demands are met, GameSpy reports. Those demands?

No more closing or deleting threads, better treatment of Frogster employees worldwide, more transparency with customers, secure game clients against cheating and modding, protect personal info, and "stop spying on your employees."

"At Frogster we are constantly analyzing all IT and security-related systems with the goal of improving them continuously," Frogster's Axel Schmidt told Edge Magazine. "We have increased these efforts even more over the last week. Immediately after we noticed the attack, all systems were double-checked and secured by new firewalls, configured with new user permits and passwords and several other protection measures right away."

According to Frogster, the disgruntled hacker got his hands on "outdated log-in data from 2007," so there isn't a whole to worry abuot. Nevertheless, Frogster deemed the attack a "serious criminal offense" and is working with German law enforcement.

Without Flash support, browser-based gaming has all but been eliminated on Apple's iPad, though not entirely. Thanks to Sarien.net, iPad owners can relive (or discover for the first time) classic adventure games from Sierra, all playable on the iPad's Safari browser and all for free.

Here's what's available:

Gold Rush!

King's Quest 1-III

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards

Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel

Space Quest I-II

The Black Cauldron

The games have been slightly updated to take advantage of the touch interface, and there's even a unique multiplayer element. It's possible to bump into another player wandering the countryside in King's Quest, for example.

Some of the original games' creators have given their stamp of approval to Sarien.net, though Activision has yet to weigh in and probably won't be as thrilled. In other words, enjoy 'em while you can.